The present invention relates to the field of devices for supplying strip flexible material unwound for example from a reel, in order to feed a work station.
French Patent No. 2 172 530 discloses a device for automatically advancing film, comprising drive members adapted to drive said film.
In addition, document EP 0 860 249 presents a method and device intended for cutting a sheet of material positioned on a cut-out table.
Finally, document DE A 36 10 561 describes a device of known type allowing a strip of synthetic material to be clamped and advanced.
Patent EP 507 733 has proposed, in known manner, a system for supplying a cutout table with sheets, comprising a support plate adapted to move, driving the sheet of material which is then blocked in the cutout station by a vacuum effect created in the latter.
This known device presents the drawback of blocking the sheet over all the active surface of the work station. In this way, if folds are created during transport of the sheet, there is a risk of the strip not being cut to the desired length.
In addition, this known device only makes X possible to separate the sheet from its roll and not to effect other operations on this sheet, since it is applied over the whole of its surface on the support plate.
The present invention has for its object to overcome these drawbacks by proposing a device adapted to supply strip flexible material to a work station, and to dispose said strip on the work station so as to allow its treatment under optimum conditions, particularly of tension in order to eliminate pleats of the strip.
According to a second aspect, the present invention allows supply of multi-layer strip mattresses to a cut-out station.
Clothes for dean rooms require considerable precautions at manufacture, particularly for reasons of protection and hygiene. After each pattern has been individually cut-out, known processes effect assembly in several operations, including oversewing, i.e. a seam along the cut-out in order to fix the fibers of the edges, and a double fold to imprison them definitively,
These known processes involve considerable additional costs when the clothes are manufactured and difficult working conditions for the operators, as these operations are partly manual.
Moreover, for reasons of productivity, individual cut-out of each pattern is particularly expensive.
The present invention overcomes these problems by effecting the supply, then the simultaneous cut-out, of a mattress of fabric comprising different layers of materials (for overgarments intended for clean rooms), by means of a laser beam.
According to the first aspect of the invention, the device for supplying a work station with strip flexible material unwound from a reel, comprising a transfer plate, animated by a translation motion with longitudinal horizontal axis, by displacing means, between a first position of loading the material strip and a second, so-called working position, said transfer plate including first means for immobilising the strip on said plate when the latter is moving from the loading position to the working position, is characterized in that the transfer plate is capable of supporting on its surface the material strip and in that the work station comprises second blocking means for retaining the free end of the strip, such that the transfer plate return travel from the work position to the loading position generates, by the friction of the strip on said plate, forces tending to smooth out the part of the strip associated with the work station.
Advantageously, the strip flexible material is composed of a plurality of independent, superposed layers or widths of material.
According to a preferred form of embodiment, the work station comprises a work table on which the strip flexible material can be placed upon the return of the transfer plate.
In order to cooperate with the work table, the transfer plate lies above and plumb with said work table.
According to another particular form of embodiment, the means for displacing the transfer plate comprise guide and driving means.
The first blocking means preferably comprise means for clamping said strip on the plate, for example by means of a jack fast with said transfer plate.
The second blocking means are constituted by at least one member adapted to clamp the free end of the strip on the work table.
A development of the invention provides, upstream of the transfer plate, a plurality of reels of strip material whose axes lie substantially in a horizontal plane positioned slightly below the surface of the transfer plate on which the multi-layer strip rests.
Said reel(s) of material is/are preferably braked.
The dimension of advance of the strip is advantageously adjustable.
In order to avoid the different layers of material adhering to one another, a steam spraying pipe is provided, adapted to humidify the different layers.
The device preferably comprises an elevator table comprising at least one horizontal plane adapted to evacuate the strip of fabric from the work station.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the device for cutting out strip flexible material comprising:
a supply device animated by a translation motion with longitudinal horizontal axis parallel to the strip, by means for displacing between a position of loading and a position of cut-out of the strip of flexible material, comprising first means for blocking said strip unwound upstream during the displacement of said supply device,
and a work station comprising second means for blocking the strip and a device for cutting out said strip, is characterized in that the strip is constituted by a plurality of independent, superposed layers of material and in that the cut-out device comprises laser beam emission means and means for displacing said emission means along a longitudinal horizontal axis and a transverse horizontal axis, perpendicular to the latter, with respect to the work station.